SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Chad Bettis changed his role. He changed his workouts. And he’s pushing to win a job in the Rockies’ bullpen because of his changeup.

There’s one clear vacancy in the bullpen, and three fingers might hold the key to filling it. Bettis’ unique grip on the off-speed pitch — something he learned in college and tweaked during the winter — has produced eye-opening results.

“It was moving so much last year, I didn’t know where to start the pitch. I know that sounds weird, but it was tough,” Bettis said. “Even when I am amped up now, I know where it’s going.”

It’s why the Rockies aren’t sure where his spring training will end. They knew Bettis would throw harder as a reliever than as a starter — and that has played out; he has regularly hit 96 mph this spring. But they weren’t counting on a 90 mph power changeup to complement an 89 mph slider. Often exposed as a starter the third time through the lineup last season, he possesses weapons that can plow through three outs.

“He’s really learning how to pitch in relief, how to set up his pitches,” said Rockies manager Walt Weiss. “The only thing is that sometimes he blows through his delivery and gets too quick. He’s aware of it. He’s absolutely in the mix.”

Bettis, 24, remains a highly regarded prospect. Yet everything is different from a year ago. He’s a full-time reliever after muddling through 16 uneven starting assignments last year.

In his exit interview after the season, he walked away determined to get more comfortable as a reliever. Raised in Lubbock, Texas, where he was a star closer for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Bettis spent the winter in Dallas working out with former college and big-league players. He gave pitching lessons to kids, while trying to educating himself. He had a baseball in his hand for hours, refining the three-finger grip to understand how to create different movement to attack left-handed and right-handed hitters.

“Everybody calls it a splitter but me,” Bettis said of a pitch that has the same arm speed as his fastball and tumbles late. “I really made great strides with it. I have much more confidence in it.”

Bettis has been dominant in the Cactus League, soothing concerns about Matt Belisle’s poor spring. The Rockies, according to a club source, aren’t looking to make a trade for a right-handed reliever. They want to give Bettis or Chris Martin an opportunity to make the team before pursuing a deal. Despite a scoreless outing Sunday, Belisle has a 9.00 ERA with 11 hits allowed in six innings.

Weiss insists he isn’t concerned about Belisle struggling, because he’s working on a changeup. But Belisle is coming off a poor season.

Bettis could provide the Rockies’ bullpen a safety net, having allowed only three hits in five innings this spring.

In a glove-popping performance Friday, he fanned a pair of Seattle Mariners with a 97 mph fastball that created oohs and aahs from the sellout crowd.

“What advice do I have for him? Keep doing what he did that night,” said Rex Brothers, who was once the Rockies’ top relief prospect. “That was really good stuff.”

The Rockies haven’t decided how their bullpen will shake out. Part of it hinges on Franklin Morales. If he doesn’t make the starting rotation, he will end up in the bullpen — possibly squeezing out Bettis. As it stands, the projected relief corps is Brothers, Belisle, LaTroy Hawkins, Boone Logan, Wilton Lopez, Adam Ottavino and Morales, Bettis or Martin.

Bettis is on the outside looking in. But his changeup could change that.

“All the work I put in this offseason is paying off,” Bettis said. “Whether I make the team or not, everything is progressing forward.”

Troy joined The Denver Post in 2002 as the Rockies' beat writer and became a Broncos beat writer in 2014 before assuming the lead role before the 2015 season. He is a past president of the local chapter of Baseball Writers Association of America and has won more than 20 local and national writing awards since graduating from the University of Colorado journalism school with honors in 1993.